After a court in Seoul ruled that K-pop star Samuel’s contract with his agency was void, the company plans to formally appeal the verdict.
Days after Seoul Central District Court ruled that K-pop star Samuel’s contract with his agency was void and dismissed their suit for damages worth 1 billion won (approx. $800,000 USD), Samuel’s agency Brave Entertainment say they plan to formally appeal the decision.
Samuel filed a legal complaint and asked for his contract to be terminated in 2019, after bringing forward concerns about Brave Entertainment CEO’s legal battles, unfair profit distribution, and issues about being made to work schedules that were not part of his contract.
In a statement (translated through Soompi), Brave Entertainment contested Samuel’s claims that he never was slated to carry out activities in China, saying: “The fact that [Samuel] is now claiming to have never agreed to the promotions in China after his mother personally uploaded onto her social media to brag about it, that he’s claiming that he didn’t agree to signing the contract despite many articles having been distributed after he was at the scene of the contract signing with a large-scale agency considered top-tier in Japan, and that he’s claiming that the company forged documents that he signed himself, will make it plenty evident to know which side is claiming the truth.”
The company claims that they provided financial and emotional support to Samuel despite the singer not having generated a profit for years after his debut.
“We provided both monetary and emotional support through tuition, monthly rent, personal exercise, and expensive clothing for an artist that didn’t generate profit for many years despite our complete investment costing over billions of won (approximately several hundred thousand dollars), and we paid tens of millions of won (approximately tens of thousands of dollars) for publicity numerous times, trying to walk the road to success together somehow.” the statement read.
“Even if the company that thoughtfully supported him to that extent was at fault in providing a portion of the billing information slightly late, we regrettably wonder how it’s possible to determine with that sole situation that all previous kind intentions and effort have faded and the trust was damaged to the extent of terminating a contract within a few months.” the statement continued.
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